Netherlands Closes Underage Gambling Loophole

This week politicians closed a loophole in Dutch law that could potentially allow minors to depot money into accounts and wager after the hole was found by the country's gaming regulator Kansspelautoriteit.

Lawmakers passed the bill that fixed the issue, which could potentially see an underage player with the same last name as a family member with an account at Holland Casino to deposit and play. There weren't any known instances of the loophole being exploited, but the possibility existed for fraud and underage gambling, both of which could cause catastrophic harm in the country.

Commenting on the loophole Dutch Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind said, "When creating a player account, the identity is established and verified, among other things by means of a check on the Citizen Service Number. In addition, a player must identify himself every time he or she wants to access his player account, for example by means of username and password.

"In addition, only money can be deposited with a payment account that can be unambiguously traced to the person of the player. This minimises the chance that a minor can actually play with a licensed provider."